Stories for August 23rd 2018

Argentina's Senators have approved a judge's request for authorities to carry out raids on properties owned by former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, as part of a case investigating widespread corruption. Cristina Fernandez is currently a senator and was one of the 67 lawmakers who voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

During the conference entitled The democratic challenge to the autocracies of the 21st century in Latin America, organized by the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL) on Tuesday at the Senate of Uruguay, the Government of Venezuela was described as a dictatorship and it was exhorted that the democratic governments of the region, especially the Uruguayan government, not be indifferent or accomplices against today’s Latin America’s autocratic governments.

The popularity of imprisoned former Brazilian president Lula da Silva has grown strongly despite his corruption conviction, an election poll on Wednesday showed, a result that rattled markets and raised the possibility that Lula’s running mate could ultimately become the next occupant of the country’s presidential palace.

A windfall tax could be levied on tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Facebook to pay for public interest journalism, Jeremy Corbyn is expected to announce. The Labour leader will call for radical reform of the media landscape in a speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival.

Argentina posted a trade deficit of US$789 million in July, government statistics agency Indec said on Wednesday, compared with a deficit of US$ 359 million in June and a deficit of US$ 748 million in July 2017.

United States Federal Reserve officials discussed raising interest rates soon to counter excessive economic strength but also examined how global trade disputes could batter businesses and households, minutes of the U.S. central bank’s last policy meeting showed.

Brazilian farmers were forecast to expand the country’s soybean planted area for the 12th consecutive year amid strong demand from Asia and in spite of risks related to the exchange rate and higher freight costs. Brazil is likely to expand the area to a record 36.28 million hectares this season, which farmers will start planting around September, a 3.2% expansion from the previous cycle based on government data.

Scotland's Brexit secretary has urged the UK government to rule out a no deal Brexit, arguing that it would be deeply damaging and disruptive. Michael Russell was speaking ahead of a major speech by his UK government counterpart Dominic Raab.

Danish vessel setting sail from Vladivostok this week is set to become the first container ship to tackle the Arctic sea route north of Russia. The Venta Maersk, owned by Maersk Line, and carrying 3,600 containers, hopes to reach St Petersburg by late September. That could be up to 14 days faster than the southern route via the Suez Canal.